Calendar Countdown

Ed. Note: During the last week of the year, we asked our writers to reflect on the highs and lows of 2010.

Not too long ago, in mid-November, I was reading “‘Stuck’ at 200,” Cathy Resmer’s interview with Seven Days multimedia producer Eva Sollberger. I felt a jolt of recognition when I got to this part:

“SD: You seem genuinely excited about every video you make. Are you?

ES: Every time I do an event, at the end of it, I’m, like, Oh my god, I’m totally going to be a Frisbee player! I’m going to be an ice skater! I’m going to learn how to fly a glider! Like, every single time. I just get so into it and, by the end, I’m thinking, How can I do this? How can I fit this into my life? And then two seconds later I’m onto the next story and I’ve forgotten all about it...”

As calendar editor, I feel the same way about most of the events I write about. I convince myself I’m going to make it to Kitestorm 2010 the following weekend; I even go so far as to put it in my Google calendar and talk it up to two friends. Without fail, they’re less enthused than I am — Won’t it be, like, 15 degrees out? they’ll ask. You don’t even like snow sports, they’ll point out. And by the time the big day rolls around, I’m already on to the next batch of calendar items and Kitestorm is the last thing on my mind.

But, in the spirit of wrapping up 2010, I thought I’d recap a few memorable events that I wrote about and actually went to. And they actually all rocked — always a relief when you recommend upcoming events to others for a living. Walk down memory lane with me, won’t you? And add these annual events to your social calendar for 2011.

OK, well, of course Mardi Gras is a good time if you’re on a float; Seven Days builds one every year. My memories of the experience are limited — not due to too many pre-float Jell-o shots, but rather to my massive papier-mâché skeleton mask, from which I could barely see. B

I don’t live in the Old North End. Maybe that makes attending the ONE’s annual Ramble a little touristy, but that’s exactly why I loved it. I was charmed by the Decatur Street Carnival, a neighborly little shindig where residents set up cardboard-box booths in the middle of the street, peddling everything from relationship advice to manicures. Wandering into a stranger’s backyard for a homemade smoothie was a nice touch, too.

You say, Charlie Chaplin. I say, Where?! One of the best nights of last summer was spent kicking back on a beach towel in Burlington City Hall Park, watching a free screening of Modern Times as the kickoff to the Festival of Fools. There was free Ben & Jerry’s, there was my favorite little tramp onscreen, and there was a guy next to me slowly but surely eating an entire cantaloupe.

This led me to Boyden Valley Winery, where I proceeded to sample and learn about rhubarb, cranberry, blueberry and maple varieties without the usual tasting fee. Next year, I’ll hit up a bunch of participating spots for my very own Vermont wine tour.

More by Carolyn Fox

When the clock strikes midnight
on December 31, Burlington will
usher in 2018 with a bang of fireworks
over Lake Champlain. But
that’s just the final touch on the
annual revelry that is First Night
Burlington. Founded in 1983, the
event has become Vermont’s largest
single-day arts celebration, a
substance-free festival serving up
13 hours of eclectic entertainment
in more than a dozen downtown
venues. Buy a button, then
crisscross the city for a classic
cabaret by Burlington’s Lyric Theatre,
aerial artistry and general
clowning around by Vermont’s
award-winning
Circus Smirkus, highenergy
funk-rock by
local band Gang of
Thieves, and so much
more. Cheers to the
New Year.

From bustling Church Street to the highly trafficked waterfront, Burlington is anything but a ghost town — unless Thea Lewis is leading your way. The actor, author and paranormal historian is also Vermont's queen of Halloween, and, in the weeks leading up to that haunted holiday, she presides over three walking tours rife with local history and mystery. The Darkness Falls Tour explores the spooky spirits of Burlington's downtown; the Wicked Waterfront Tour dives into shipwrecks, lake monsters and shoreline mischief; and the Cemetery Tour travels to the city's most ghoulish gravestones. These tales are spine-tingling but typically appropriate for ages 9 and up.

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